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2.07.2012

Where did that obsession with photography come from, anyway?

I wrote this blog post late last night. It turns out I do my best writing at night. Actually, I do my best thinking at night and thinking often turns into writing for me. Before I pursued photography professionally, my first love was writing. As a youth, I spent many hours in my room writing stories, poetry and spilling my teenage woes in the pages of my diary. It was an outlet for me and it was the only thing I felt I was really good at.

My passion for writing turned out to be good for me because I went to journalism school and ended up working at a newspaper for three years.

Somewhere through all of that I fell in love with photography. Again. It was always something I loved, but back when you had to wait a week or more for your film to be developed before you could see your photos, I did it only as a way to preserve precious memories of myself and my friends.

The first time I had a camera in my hands and an entire roll of film to do with as I pleased, was on a grade six field trip. I took an awesome photo of my teachers ... their heads were all cropped off. After that, despite my terrible composition skills, I took my camera everywhere and the result was several photo albums filled with forever entertaining photos.

I didn't begin taking pictures creatively until, well, working at the newspaper I guess. I was always looking for new angles and interesting shots. Suddenly, I realized that I loved that search, and I produced some shots I was super proud of. And then, everywhere I went I had my camera. I was taking pictures of everything and everyone again, but this time I was paying attention to the beauty and the emotion, in each shot. I'll be honest, for a long time I lucked into most of the great shots I got. I wouldn't be able to tell you what my ISO was or what aperture I used for any given photo. But I do know that I put something of myself into every photo I took.

Since then I have learned all about camera settings, light and composition. I am still no expert, but I believe that with experience - and lots of reading and experimenting - comes skill and believe me, I have experience. I learn something with every photo I take, and I am continually growing as a photographer. When I look back at old photos I've taken, I often pick them apart. But I also wouldn't change them at all because they are a big part of where and who I am today as a photographer.

Here are a few of my favourite shots from the last few years, most of which do not have people in them because a) it was hard to get my friends to pose for me and b) I was just beginning to see the world through my camera so most of these shots were spontaneous.

P.S. All of these shots are SOOC (Straight out of camera), meaning I have not edited them at all. I hope you like :)

I had a little obsession with taking pictures of flowers. This is probably my all-time favourite one.

Sweet, sweet Jamaica, 2009. What a beautiful place and oh what I would give to go back there and take a million more photos.

The Trussle in Bishop's Falls, Newfoundland. Taken from the car window as we drove under it!

Hey there, I'm Jennifer, or Jenn, Blake. Welcome to my little space on the Internet. I am family portrait and wedding photographer in Rosetown, SK (that's in Canada, in case you didn't know). My photography is fun, candid and relaxed, because I like to think I'm fun, candid and relaxed (most of the time). My blog is where you will get a peek into my life, and of course see lots of photos. I hope you'll take some time to have a look around and read about what's happening in my world. If you do, please take a minute to leave me some love. Cause everyone loves love, right? ;) Thanks!